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The mod banning these users is the same mod who made the posts they downvoted. This is mod abuse, turning the downvote button into an auto-self-ban button.
The message is "If you disagree with me, you will be banned"
Monitoring and banning users for using lemmy as intended to signal boost your opinion should be grounds to have all mod privileges removed. This behaviour undermines the integrity of the server and the wider fediverse.
What would "banning the voting agent" look like exactly if it didn't impact the account that triggered the voting agent? Just muted their downvoting? I assume this wouldn't federate out, so wouldn't impact the negative impact of potentially unwelcome and malicious downvoting from that account across the fediverse.